Workington Town boss Phil Veivers believes that Dewsbury should have been reduced to 12 men during yesterday’s 27-14 defeat to the Rams.

Town were dealt a blow at the start of the second half as Sam Forrester was forced off the field after taking a knee in the back in a tackle from Joel Farrell, an incident Veivers believed the Rams forward should have been punished for.

“There were some questionable decisions on penalties,” he said. “You have guys wearing elbows and then we’re penalised for holding down.

“Then we had one of our guys kneed. It’s foul play and a red card.”

Town trailed 20-0 at the break but came out firing on all cylinders in the second half as they scored first but conceded immediately afterwards to go 26-4 behind.

Tries from Elliott Miller and Jarrod Sammut reduced the deficit but it was too little too late as Tom Hemingway kicked a drop-goal to put three scores between the two sides.

“It’s always tough going to Dewsbury,” Veivers added. “The first-half performance gave us a mountain to climb and we didn’t get back into the game quickly enough. We got the try but, as we have done a lot this season, we didn’t complete the set afterwards and invited them into our half. We had four sets in attack in their half in the first half and we lost three of those.

“From our kick they then jumped from the field of play into the in-goal and were given a 20 metre restart, the official was average at best.”

Despite the disappointing first-half showing, the Aussie was encouraged by his side’s second-half performance ahead of this weekend’s semi-final game against Featherstone.

“I’m proud of the way they came out and we threw a few shapes at them,” he added.

“I told them the game plan hadn’t changed, we just weren’t in a position to throw anything at them.”

Town duo Brett Carter and Karl Olstrom have both signed two-year deals at the club.

“It’s great for us,” Veivers said. “They are two local boys and have a lot of impact with what we do.

“Things are looking good at the moment.”